Making Levantine Cuisine: Modern Foodways of the Eastern Mediterranean | Anny Gaul, Graham Auman Pitts & Vicki Valosik

This is primarily a foundational, book-length scholarly work devoted to food history, anthropology, and critical theory. While it does offer a light sprinkling of authentic family recipes, poetry, and personal reminiscences, its main goal is to analyze the social contexts and labor mechanics behind how food shapes culture.

The book explores the foodways of the Eastern Mediterranean (the Levant)—spanning fluid historical territories across modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Egypt, and Turkey. It highlights how these culinary traditions are "unified but not uniform," melding local rural origins with global migrations.

The text features deep-dive analytical chapters tracking the production and cultural circulation of foundational staples like sugar, olive oil, and pistachios. It also explores the social origins and political histories behind emblematic regional dishes such as kibbe, Adana kebab, shakshuka, falafel, and shawarma.

Yes, directly. The essays peel back the corporate, nationalistic, and ideological branding that often isolates these dishes. The authors examine the faulty, rigid binaries of "Arab or Jewish" and "traditional or modern," demonstrating how states like Turkey and Israel historically built national food cultures by adopting and modifying traditions from marginalized populations.

It is a vital asset written for food historians, cultural anthropologists, sociologists, Middle Eastern studies scholars, and deeply curious foodies. It functions as an exceptional introductory guide for anyone looking to understand how culinary repertoires adapt, cross borders, and endure through periods of intense political division.

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